What is a Holon?

A Holon and its Quadrants

The concept of a holon came from the writings of Arthur Koestler. He observed that it seems every entity and concept shares a dual nature: as a whole unto itself, and as a part of some other whole. For example, a cell in an organism is a whole and at the same time a part of another whole, the organism.[4]

Another example is that a letter is a self-existing entity and simultaneously an integral part of a word, which then is part of a sentence, which is part of a paragraph, which is part of a page; and so on. Benefits can come from looking at everything from quarks to matter to energytoideas in this way.

In his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, Wilber outlines approximately twenty tenets that characterize all holons.[5] These tenets form the basis of Wilber's model of manifest reality. Since all holons grow, they all change. So Wilber formed a model that attempts to account for everything, all holons, in the universe.

The Twenty Tenets of all Holons

1. Reality as a whole is not composed of things or processes, but of holons, i.e. wholes that are parts of other wholes, indefinitely.

5. Each emergent holon transcends and includes its predecessor(s); - preserves their being but negates their exclusiveness.

6. The lower sets the possibilities of the higher; the higher sets the probabilities of the lower.

7. The number of levels which a hierarchy comprises determines whether it is 'shallow' or 'deep'; the number of holons on any given level we shall call its 'span'.

8. Each successive level of evolution produces greater depth and less span.

Addition I. The greater the depth of a holon, the greater its degree of consciousness. [9]

9. Destroy any type of holon, and you will destroy all of the holons above it and none of the holons below it; - less depth = less significance to the Kosmos, i.e. more of the Kosmos is external to the holon; it is more fundamental. - more depth = more significance = less fundamental. [10]

11. The micro is in relational exchange with the macro at all levels of its depth; - each layer of a holon's depth continues to exist in (and depend upon) a network of relationships with other holons at the same level of structural organisation. [12]